Submitting for GM approval, mostly done still need to work on some stuff.

The Talisan Conclave

General Information

The Talisan Conclave is a civilization defined by their cybernetic augmentations. One particular augmentation lets them emulate telepathy among themselves, and possession of that implant is what makes one truly Conclaved. Over the years, many have been drawn in by the Conclave’s seemingly utopian way of life, so the citizenry of the Conclave, both implanted and non-implanted, is quite diverse. The Conclave eagerly welcomes, and actively recruits, new citizens. Many other nations do not really appreciate the Conclave trying to lure their citizens away, so relations with their neighbours are...tense.

The Conclave ostensibly wants to co-exist peacefully with the rest of the system, but many suspect some deeper, more nefarious purpose.

Major Species

The Vae’shanStill the most numerous members of the Conclave, the Vae’shan are a species of avian hexapods. They have a more or less standard biped configuration, with the addition of two vestigial wings emerging from their shoulder blades. These wings are no longer large enough for flight, but do help with running, jumping, and limited gliding. Some Vae’shan have their organic wings replaced with fully flight functional cybernetic ones, but such wings are inevitably quite large and can get in the way if one is living on a space station. Such modifications are more common on agrarian arcologies or other habitats with open ‘sky’.

The TorotalA species of large mamalian humanoids who almost universally adopted the CNI and Conclave ideology when the Conclave made first contact. They represent a sizeable fraction of the Conclave’s population, and are distinguished by their large size and dense fur. Baseline Torotal barely exist anymore, but can still be found on Sanctuary and the Tet, their home arcology.

VariousA good chunk of the Conclave’s population is composed of a myriad of species of all shapes and sizes from all over the system. The poor, opressed, and outcasts of other societies find themselves new homes in the Conclave.

Points of Interest

SantuaryResembling a delicate flower floating in space, Sanctuary is a huge city world, almost 100km in length. A central ring holds each of the world’s five petals in place. Sanctuary is capable of ‘closing’ to give some measure of defence, but it is more of an art installation than a fortress. Sanctuary is an open world; citizens of any nation may come and go as they please, though administration and policing are taken care of by the Conclave. The Conclave maintains a defence fleet around Sanctuary, but no military facilities are present on the world itself, in clear deference to Sanctuary’s civilian status. Sanctuary is home to the Conclave’s government, an elected body of representatives called the Star Chamber.

DawnBuilt inside an asteroid and shrouded with the best stealth technologies the Conclave could develop, Dawn is also a fortress, protected equally by secrecy and massive armour and weapon mounts. Not a particularly large station, it is here the the Conclave’s Circle, its actual ruling entity, is located. Dawn’s location is a closely guarded secret, the coordinates uploaded into navigator’s CNIs then deleted when no longer required.

The TetA sealed tetrahedron some 60km from point to base, the Tet is an agrarian world on the inside and an industrial one on the outside. The Tet is also an open world, though with tighter controls than Sanctuary. The base of the Tet is transparent and permanently oriented towards the sun, providing a 24 hour day to the interior for growing food. The exterior is covered with factories and industrial complexes, and an orbital ring that straddles the Tet around the middle is home to extensive shipyards, though they are mostly devoted to civilian construction. The Tet's shape leads to irregular gravity within the world, ranging from practically non-existent at the tip to rather uncomfortable at the base. This is a non issue for Conclaved, but any baseline visitors should generally stick to the mid-zones.

BatalaWhile Dawn is (relatively) safely hidden inside an inconspicuous asteroid, it is impossible to effectively mask the emissions associated with building ships. Batala is a heavily armed and armoured brick of a world some 20km long. It has no gravity to speak of, but the Conclaved who call it home have no problems with that. Batala is the Conclave's primary military base and shipyard. The Conclave's propensity towards secrecy meant they were unwilling to let the station's armaments be its sole defence. Instead of trying to hide the station's emissions, they went around activating every high energy world and station in the area. Batala's general vicinity blazes like a sun on any sensors turned towards it, but locating the correct station is all but impossible from range. Minefields and frequent patrols ensure no scouts get close enough to find the station the old fashioned way. A large fleet would be able to eventually pinpoint Batala's location, but it would suffer heavy losses in the process.

Society

HistoryThe Conclave are an offshoot of a now extinct mainline species called the Vae’shan. The Vae’shan were an avian species that called a large arcology in the inner system home. Shotly after their first space flight, a somewhat eccentric doctor named Ghaina Talisan developed the Cortical Network Implant, which would become the keystone of Conclave cybernetics. The Vae’shan did possess functional cybernetics at the time, but the CNI was the first true interface between mind and machine. Her invention drew interest, but also controversy. A group of religious fanatics assaulted her laboratory late one night, but the paranoid Dr. Talisan had built in defences that drove them off, all except for one who was inadvertently seriously injured. His injuries were so severe as to require significant cybernetic prosthesis, which Talisan installed herself. But no one had ever lived anything remotely resembling a normal life with that level of augmentation; their implants and augs were too clunky, slow to respond, and generally limited in their functionality. But with a CNI, perhaps there was a chance. Talisan went ahead and installed one in the fanatic’s brain, her first Vae’shan test subject. Ademnon, the First Conclaved, was born. When he awoke, he was initially repulsed by his augmentations, but came to marvel at how smoothly they functioned. He was more machine than man, but aside from the obvious metal arm, he looked and moved just as he had before. The CNI granted flawless control over his augmentations and implants, internal and external.Word spread of Talisan’s success with Ademnon, and people flocked to her lab to receive CNI’s, many seeking to improve the functionality of their existing augmentations, others simply believing the CNI represented the next logical step in their people’s evolution. Talisan suddenly found herself leading what was essentially a cult. As time passed and her cult grew and grew, tensions with non-augmented Vae’shan rose. Raids against Talisan’s lab - now a fortified compound - grew in frequency, some of them even sponsored by the central government. Ademnon was the one who suggested it was time for the Conclave to leave the Arcology, and make their home among the swarm of micro worlds beyond. They did so, arriving at Sanctuary, a massive city station that was fortunately uninhabited. For a time, there was peace, and the Conclave prospered. Eventually, the great irony of Dr. Talisan’s life caught up with her; She was one of the few Vae’shan who could not receive a CNI. She died of old age at 109.The peace did not last. The baseline Vae’shan eventually pursued their augmented brethren into the void, and war broke out. It was during the war, while Ademnon was off commanding forces on the front line, that a particularly brilliant Conclaved named Sendema developed the next generation of the CNI and shaped the Conclave’s future. She was hailed the Harbinger of Tomorrow, and welcomed into the ruling ranks of the Conclave. It was Sendema who proposed the final fate of the baseline Vae’shan, something many had been thinking about, but hadn’t dared voice in the face of Ademnon’s staunch opposition to the notion: complete nuclear annihilation. But Sendema proved to be a cunning leader and an excellent orator as well as a brilliant scientist, and eventually she won over the Conclave. Ademnon was overruled, and the nukes were launched. They weren’t powerful enough to destroy the Vae’shan’s arcology, but they were sufficient to scour all life from it. So ended the baseline Vae’shan.

GovernmentThe Star Chamber is the entity that ostensibly runs the Conclave. It is a large elected assembly operating on Sanctuary. In truth, the Circle, a small council of unelected Conclaved, runs the Conclave from the secrecy of Dawn. Members of the Star Chamber must be Conclaved as well. They also have the unique ability to isolate and conceal knowledge and information from other Conclaved. This is ostensibly for security purposes. Members of the Circle go beyond this. They can override the privacy of any Conclaved, scooping knowledge from their minds without the victim ever knowing it. There is some overlap between memberships in the two entities; after all, the secret rulers of the Conclave must be able to keep an eye on it’s supposed rulers.

It's good enough beyond the couple concerns I brought up in the discord.

Mainly how it is very unlikely you'd be able to hide the location of Dawn, even if you can obscure the purpose of the station or what goes on within it and noting that it is likely your worlds have wide ranges in regards to gravity.

@Ozerath You also say that The Vae’shan are "the most numerous members of the Conclave" and then in the history part "of a now extinct mainline species called the Vae’shan", that doesnt make much sense.

Sorry for the (potentially lethal) inactivity on my part, but various poorly timed obstacles ave delayed me until now. If any of you who are about are still up for keeping this going, I can provide a collaborative effort here or there (@Arawak or @Raylah in particular).